Fan Fiction ❯ The Little Hero ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age belong to Nintendo and Camelot, but I'm sure they're very kind and understanding about borrowed characters. I promise to put them back in the same shape they were when I took them!

Backdating: This was written in December 2004.

"So, you've finally asked. I was wondering when the question would arise. Sit down, Granddaughter, and I'll tell you. It all began many years ago, when your grandmother - that would be me, of course - was helping light the elemental lighthouses...."

Mia tightened her grip on Ivan's hand, pretending the handclasp was for his sake as they watched the others take on the Doom Dragon. The moment it had appeared, they'd fallen back into the teams they were most comfortable with, and Felix had shouted at them to stay back until all four of his group were down. It was probably good strategy, although truthfully Mia had no clue about that sort of thing. That was what Isaac was good at.

Even though Felix had somehow assumed the position of leader, Isaac was still enough of a leader in her mind to hold her back, though just barely. She wanted nothing more than to leap forward and add her Psyenergy to the cause, to help Jenna heal Felix's team. But Isaac had told them, in a tone far too adult and an expression far too wise, that they couldn't do that. When Felix's team fell, they had to be at full strength to take up the battle. Head-strong, impulsive Garet was having more trouble accepting that, and Isaac's knuckles were white where they gripped the Mars Adept's shoulders. Issac was screaming into Garet's ear, and Garet was screaming back, but even though they were only a few feet away Mia couldn't make out the words. The sounds of battle were just too loud.

Sheba fell; Felix Revived her, only to collapse himself a few minutes later, with Sheba following him. The young Jupiter Adept was the weakest of the eight, and at this point, with no chance to fully recover before she was struck again, she was taking a beating. Piers lopped off one of the Doom Dragon's heads, and while it screamed and writhed in pain, Jenna released Tinder to revive Felix. By the time the Doom Dragon had collected itself and was striking back with even more power than before, all four of them were on their feet. Tears were welling up in Mia's eyes as the Doom Dragon unleashed Cruel Ruin. A single Wish Well, added to Jenna's constant Cool Auras, could help them so much....

"Mia, no!" Ivan shouted in her ear, his eyes wide, and she realized that she'd been summoning the Psyenergy to cast it. "Trust Felix and Issac, they know what they're doing!" If anything, he looked even more distraught than she did. She forced herself to release the Psyenergy. In the back of her mind, she could feel her set Djinn fretting.

The explosion of the second head being cleaved off by Felix's Odyssey threw all four of the battlers to the ground, and by the time they recovered, so had the Doom Dragon. Thoroughly outraged, it struck them with Djinn Blast, followed immediately by another Cruel Ruin. When it was finished, only Jenna still stood, and then only because she was leaning on her weapon. She looked up at the Doom Dragon, who was swinging at her with a huge claw, and glowed with Psyenergy. As it struck Jenna down, her final Cycle Beam dealt it a stunning blow. It reeled back, giving them time to move.

"Now!" Isaac shouted, and they leapt forward, all of them sick at the sight of their friend's bodies and ready to tear the Doom Dragon to pieces. Garet's Liquifier was already striking home as Mia raised the Thanatos Mace. Odyssey, Liquifier, Shine Plasma, and Glacier, their strongest attacks, all burned into the monster's hide, and then Mia was forced to assume the same duty Jenna had held and cast only Wish Well while the others actually fought. Their Djinn pummeled the Doom Dragon as often as their attacks and weapons did, but despite having only one head left, it never faltered. It was as if loosing the other heads had actually given it more power. Despite Mia's best efforts, one by one, her friends collapsed. And when Djinn Blast and Shadow of Death sent her Djinn scattering and brought down Isaac and Garet, she could do nothing to save Ivan from the next vicious blow of the Doom Dragon's tail.

Mia raised her head high, staring defiantly into the monster's maddened eyes. Her Psyenergy was drained to nothing; she could feel her life seeping out of her body along with her blood. "You killed all my friends," she snarled at it. "I have nothing left to lose." With a wild cry, she charged the Doom Dragon, swinging her weapon. But she dealt it only a glancing blow before a casual smack of its wing sent her to the ground with stars in her eyes and the world spinning around her. Above her, the Doom Dragon prepared to unleash Cruel Ruin. She could recognize the coming attack as such by the monster's posture, after having seen it kill so many of her friends.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mia saw Kraden, horror written across his face. He was trying to climb the steps and come to her aid, and she choked back a sob. I'm so sorry, Kraden, I've failed you... we've all failed you... instead of witnessing the release of your Alchemy, you have to see us die. Please, don't try to save me.... But even if I could find the breath to shout at you, you would anyway. She'd come to care for the old man, as had all of them, and he seemed to see them as the grandchildren he'd never had. He wasn't a fighter, but with so much to gain and so little to lose, she knew he'd be throwing his life away for her even as she gasped out her last breath.

An odd feeling filled her, lifting her strength, and she realized with a gasp of panic that Mist had recovered and set himself to her. Panic, because if she died now, there would be no one left to Revive her, and the Djinni would be trapped forever in the limbo that held set Djinn. "Mist, no!" she whispered, unable to even coherently voice what she wanted to shout, trying uselessly to shove it away. Bad enough that she and her friends were dead; must her Djinni die with her, too? But the Doom Dragon was already bellowing as the beginnings of Cruel Ruin shone on the distant horizon, and she had no time to unset the bold, suicidal little Djinni.

There was only one chance left, to save at least one more life out of this massacre. "Mist," she breathed, praying that he would obey her, that she had the strength to make him obey her. "Mist, attack the Doom Dragon...."

And he did. A blast of blue light leapt from her chest and arrowed straight at the Doom Dragon, diving at the triumphantly roaring monster. That mouth, so conveniently open, snapped shut, and the maddened eyes went wide with surprise as Mist dove down the Doom Dragon's gullet. Then it opened its mouth again, screaming in absolute agony as its body began to dissolve into grey mist. Grey mist mixed with blue.

On the horizon, the traveling light of Cruel Ruin vanished as if it had never been. And Mia, unable to move for the pain of her broken ribs, nonetheless reached out and pulled a triumphant Djinni close to her, hugging him despite the pain it caused and sobbing for joy at his victory.

"I don't know how we ever managed to stand again, but I suspect the Djinn had something to do with it. Most of them had already been thrown free by the Doom Dragon's Djinn Blasts, and once Quartz revived Piers, his Balm could have done the rest... but I'm only guessing. I never asked them. I just know that suddenly I was up and about, still holding Mist and doing my best to revive Felix's parents. I failed, but it turned out all right in the end. Oh, don't look so eager, you know the rest of that story by heart.

"Does that answer your question, Granddaughter? Good, I hoped so. That Djinni deserves everything I give him, and more. If it weren't for Mist, you wouldn't be here today, and in a few hundred years, Imil itself would be gone. Djinn live for hundreds of years, and I hope you pass on this story, because I want every one of those years left to him to be spent in luxury.

"Now, give him those cookies, like he asked!"